no idea what to get, NOT guinea pig

[ernest]

Ok 3 kids - 6,5 & 2
Desperate for pet.

We had 2 guinea pigs about 2 years ago. The animals were very reclusive & therefore boring. After about 2 days kids lost interest & I ended up looking after them. Was very happy to move house & get rid.

Our criteria - 3 young boys.
I feel squeemish about leaving animal confined to cage 24/7, but then don't want to spend life picking up poo.
Our garden isn'e (but could be) fenced off.
We don't have anyone to look after then when we're away - maybe 4 times a year, up tp 2 weeks.
i don't like cats.
Dh iffy but may be persuaded about only small dogs.

Would rats/mice be ok without attention for 2 weeks if left plenty of food/water?
Are small dogs really a lot of work?
Are dogs allowed to travel across eurpoe?

Why is it always mum left to look after the bloody things.

I guess something strokeable would be better. gran has cats. Kids love, i don't

Rats and mice wouldnt be ok left without a fresh supply of water/food. You would need to get someone to come in and get them out and feed them etc.
Dogs are a huge amount of work...dont know about traveling.

I was never a cat fan, but am a total convert - very easy to look after and love to be stroked unlike our (no longer with us) rabbit, or either of the hamsters we had pre-kids. Whatever animal you choose though will need looking after whilst you're away, even small furries. We have a neighbour pop in to feed our cats (adopted from a mner) when we go away. With our hamsters, we could usually find a willing volunteer who'd take them in for us for a while.

Have to add that our cats are older and litter trained (and also 'go' outside) - I couldn't have faced looking after a kitten despite how cute it would be.
Only pitfall is the occasional hairball they cough up - niiiiiiiiice!

if you can't get a friend to look after small rodents, catteries or kennels will often take them in for a small charge. Definately not ok on their own for more than a night or two.

you could consider a grown up cat from rspca or similar.

I guess what puts me off cats is

• I just don't like them
• I don't want out house, esp expensive new leather settees scrathed to pieces. mil has cat which is very nice & friendly but still scratches all furniture
• can't face it bringing in mice/birds/bats/frogs, all of which mil's cat seems to bring in v. regularly
• loads and loads of our neighbours have them & I think really there's miles too many per square meter round here as it is. but dogs are such a lot of work.

back to squre one. thanks for thoughts

Fish
-can be left for 2 weeks if you get holiday food
-easy to look after
-can be interesting
-ds (6) loves his fish, and is interested in all the different types, and has his favourite
-not very strokeable though

Sea monkeys - almost zero maintenance - feed once a week - can go around 10 days. Clean out tank about every three to four months. Ours lasted 2.5 years.

Or you could try one of these. Includes £5 discount voucher. Ds1 got this for Christmas - haven't started it yet, but looks pretty easy to maintain and shouldn't be any escapees.

Ernest, i have 3 guinea pigs, and my two dd's adore them, they are, naturally very reclusive animals, but, if you talk to them and play with them ie, get them a run where they have toys they are v v v v v lovable pets, i would NEVER be without my three.

obviously after 2 days guinea pigs will still be very shy, they are pack animals and its in their nature to hide etc, that is why they need to be handled and talked to.

When i walk past my 3 i now have 1 squeaking for food and the other 2 for their chins tickled and the kids love it when i get their run out as the guinea pigs do play with them.

I have helped a couple of mumsnetters on here with their piggies, so if you want any further advise cat me.

hamster. only live a year or so. amusing to watch running across room in ball. furry.

rats and mice not v nice. rabbits and guineas OK but boring and better living outside - out of sight out of mind.

otherwise I'd go for a cat - they don't need much looking after being so independent, so it won't fall all on you. but cat hair is annoying. children would lov it though!

Also, mice cannot be left for 2 weeks as they will probably eat what you consider to be 2 weeks worth in a couple of days, they have no portion control.

I think now that as long as a dog is innoculated that you can get a passport for it.

Also, if you are going on holiday in england, you can take gp's with you (we have)

I wouldn't recommend getting a hamster for small children, firstly hamsters are nocturnal and are therefore awake when the kids are asleep and vice versa. Also hamsters can be agressive and if one bites you you'll certainly know about it. they're very cute but I'd recommend them for slightly older kids rather than very young ones. Mice will need cleaning out almost daily as they smell, also, if you were going to get mice you would have to be very careful about making sure you get ones that are the same sex - the breeding rate of mice is incredible - they can breed every three weeks and can produce up to 8 young at a time. Have never had rats but smell the same as mice, up side though rats are quite inteligent and can generally be handled.

Cats are lovely but if you're not into them scratching the furniture or bringing in animals then I wouldn't go there either, especially as you'll be the one who will have to pick up the dead things (DH deals with the dead things in our house, well cats are bit older now but when they were younger ...).

Dogs are hard work and will need walking twice a day plus feeding/house training/teaching not to chew things if you get a puppy. Pet passports are possible if you want to travel across europe but it's expensive and requires further vaxinations to the general parvo/cat flu ones they already have which need to be kept up to date every six months if you're going to be travelling abroad regularly.

I would also suggest maybe fish, goldfish though not tropical ones as goldfish don't take quite I had all the above pets when I was a child plus various birds and I know now what I put my mum through. Now it's DS's turn to ask for animals - well we have a dog and two cats - he can be happy with those until he can look after any more himself.
so much looking after. Not strokeable though

Oops didn't read all that post before I posted, what I meant to say was that goldfish don't take quite so much looking after but they're not strokeable.

Budgie?
Snake?

In all honesty, isn't it really only animals that become part of the family that kids pay extended attention to? If you don't want / can't deal with a small dog, I would talk them out of pets altogether, I think. I'm going to do my best to avoid pets.

Would gran keep an extra cat which is theirs but lives with her?

I completely sympathise with you not wanting a cat in the house.

If they couldn't look after guinea pigs who are really easy & very cuddly (we've got two), then I would definitely talk them out of pets.
Rats & mice will be even more boring than guineas and not nearly as cuddly.
If you are not that keen and you think you'll end up looking after them - don't do it!!

Talk them out of pets, get them a cuddly toy animal instead. Still cute and cuddly but no poo or expensive vet bills! Or a virtual pet. If the children are not going to be interested for more than a couple of days, and you are just going to end up doing all the work when you don't want to, then just save yourself the trouble and do without live pets. Pets should be treasured and loved by everybody in the family, not resented and undervalued.

Love Gem.xXx